A salesman’s briefcase was supposed to accidentally open and the mouths fall out and commence chattering, but stop in a certain number of seconds.

That's funny...chattering mouths & fluttering hearts must have been an 80's thing. I remember around the same time that fluttering wind up hearts were being sold. You'd wind one up, hold onto it with both hands and then carefully place it in a specially sized box that prevented any heart movement until the box was opened at which time the heart would "beat". HA! indeed!

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MP35N sounds similar to Inconel (nickel-chromium) or Monel (nickel-copper) super stainless steels. All are expensive. Last job I used Monel on we were replacing all the bolting (over three hundred 1-1/4" x 9" HHCS with nuts and washers) in a large pump casing and it cost more than $120k for one set of bolts. The old bolting was Monel and still in decent shape after 40+ years in salt water but to be safe they wanted to replace it all to minimize the chance of any failures which could result in a catastrophic failure of the pump so $120k was seen as cheap insurance.

@Cheese I had to revive this thread to ask a question. In the photo @rvieceli posted, the countersink was clean and even all the way around. Is this only possible if you do this in a drill press or is there a technique to do this with a hand drill without resorting to the versions with the pilot that was posted?

I picked up the Keo bit and tried it on a few test holes and quickly learned doing it by hand resulted in a 50/50 split between horribly uneven countersinks and slightly uneven countersinks. Even if I'm batching out holes on a drill press, I'm drilling the pilot holes first, then switch to the countersink and go back to do the countersinks. Unless I'm able to set up stop blocks and a fence to put the work piece precisely where it was when I drilled the pilot, odds are the countersink will be off slightly. Any tips?

In the photo @rvieceli posted, the countersink was clean and even all the way around. Is this only possible if you do this in a drill press or is there a technique to do this with a hand drill without resorting to the versions with the pilot that was posted?

I picked up the Keo bit and tried it on a few test holes and quickly learned doing it by hand resulted in a 50/50 split between horribly uneven countersinks and slightly uneven countersinks. Even if I'm batching out holes on a drill press, I'm drilling the pilot holes first, then switch to the countersink and go back to do the countersinks. Unless I'm able to set up stop blocks and a fence to put the work piece precisely where it was when I drilled the pilot, odds are the countersink will be off slightly. Any tips?

Unfortunately, the drill press is the magic item in this situation.

I try to use the drill press any time decorative countersinking needs to be done. It can be done by hand, and I'll show you an example, but it is tedious because it's tough to hold the drill exactly perpendicular to the surface. Anything other than 90º to the surface will get you a wonky looking countersink.

Another plus with the drill press is that if you set the depth limit, every countersink will be the same diameter, nice and uniform.

I'm a firm believer in using the Woodpeckers fence with flip stops on the drill press. That way you've nested every piece in the same location and you can remove and replace them without losing the center datum line. If you get into the habit of doing that, it becomes 2nd nature.

At times I thought I needed only 2 tool changes but then when I started the project, I realized I actually needed 3 or 4 tool changes. That's not a problem if you've used stop blocks or flip stops. Just make sure to mark each piece so you know which sides were registered against the stops.

Here's a long chunk of walnut that I couldn't fit on the drill press. These countersinks were all done by hand. It was not fun but it's doable.

raj like Cheese said you really need to use the drill press to get the best looking results. Has to be straight or it gets funky.

That particular piece in the shot is a cylinder socket head cap screw in a chamfered coounterbored hole. It's a three step process.

Drill the through hole.

Counterbore the clearance for the screw head to depth.

Chamfer the edges with an 82 degree counter sink to depth.

Rinse and repeat

All these operations are with the work piece clamped and immobile. Only changing the tooling. Indexing the couterbore depth and the chamfer depth off the surface. I've got a physical depth stop on my press so I use gauge blocks to set the depth.

I'm usually working with irregularly shaped work pieces (live edge) so they don't always index accurately off a fence. I'm generally mating a piece to a metal base. So I'll use a transfer punch to mark the hole centers then drill the through hole. Flip the work piece over because the counterbore needs to be on the other side. I will then use the drill bit as an index pin to get the work piece in the correct alignment and then go through the steps above.

Thanks @Cheese and @rvieceli ! I didn't realize the issue was that I had skewed the bit from vertical causing the problem. I thought the bit was walking off center somehow (it looked circular but off center). I do have a fence with multiple flip stops, but at only 3ft long, sometimes you have to find another way. The drill being used as an index is great...unless you don't have a keyless chuck, then you spend your afternoon tightening and loosening that chuck (Cheese, don't start on that Albrecht chuck, that's a different rabbit hole for a different day =) ).

The sad part is, all the work you put into those nicely countersunk screws is appreciated by only a few. I can imagine going through that 3 step process on something only to have my wife ask why didn't I just use the nailer . ---> Because I wanted it to look pretty!!! (that's when I get the shoulder shrug)

Just as some of the posters above I find it somewhat hard to keep the drill straight when I can't use a drill press. Here's a trick I learned from my mentor long ago that helps me. Put a straight rod in a vise. Check with a level that it is perfectly vertical. Then put the drill on the rod and tighten the chuck. After that glue a bullseye level on the backside of the body and make sure it is level. Let it dry like that. Once done you can use the level to make sure you are drilling vertically.

The pilot does not need to be full depth of the screw, only enough to guide the initial countersink. My smallest piloted sink only has 3/16" deep pilot. I've never bothered to use mine on wood, mostly for metal work.

It’s the diameter of the pilot on metal working piloted countersink bits that is too big. You’d have to drill a second larger diameter but shallow pilot hole to use the c'sk bit in wood.

Just thinking this whole hand held drill + countersink thing through, if you're up against the boards because you can't use a drill press and you don't own a drill stand, I still think this Weldon piloted zero degree c'sk may be the answer. It may not be as slick as a drill press but it could solve a problem for a lot of people.

Years ago I produced a cheat sheet to make my life easier and the "general" dimensions I've gathered over the years for both square drive and Torx drive wood screws are:#8...max diameter .150"-.155"...so I'll use a 5/32" clearance drill#9...max diameter .170"-.175"...so I'll use a 3/16" clearance drill#10...max diameter .190"-.195"...so I'll use a 13/64" clearance drill1/4"...max diameter .235"-.240"...so I'll use a 1/4" clearance drill

The Weldon CS8-1 piloted c'sk will produce up to a 33/64" diameter c'sk, so it's useable for any of the above mentioned sized screws. And while the pilot diameter is 1/4" diameter, the depth of the pilot is only 5/32".

A 1/4" diameter thru hole isn't that much larger than a .155" max diameter especially when you consider that the #8 FH screw will be centered by the countersink and not the thru diameter. Unless we're building wooden boats it really doesn't make much difference especially if it's your only option.